Abolish states, not councils

An editorial in a major NSW daily recently argued that local government should be abolished in Australia.

Some important pertinent and correct facts about troubles in local government were produced, but the author demonstrated no understanding that local government problems are the result of its vulnerable position in a dysfunctional federal system.

Therefore the conclusion that local government should now be abolished is bizarre and illogical to say the least.

The solution surely is to abolish the failing states instead and start to finance local government properly, give it a direct accountability link to the national government, increase its powers and professionalism and bring government back to the people.

The growing fiscal imbalance between the federal government and the states is an impost on the states that affects local government adversely everywhere.

The new "cooperative federalism" clearly is not going to fix that either.

The states have to be replaced with a strengthened local government tier combined with the constitutional recognition of the Regional Organisation of Council structures as regional adjuncts to clusters of local government.

Many people in Australia do not understand what the essence of federal government is: a quite rigid constitutional division of sovereign powers between the federal goverment and the states. This is not working anymore and hasn't for a long time.

We cannot turn the clock back.

Local government, a subsidiary of state government, already weak in powers, is a major casualty of this situation.

The deadening impact of the centralisation at the state level, combined with its financial incapacity, has made "cooperative federalism" a most inappropriate and dangerous remedy.

Klaas Woldring, Pearl Beach